Our Story

The first KADEN & KAI bracelet was created in 2020 on a Cricut! As a consultant in the green sector, I was constantly on the hunt for cool, upcycled fashion accessories to flaunt at the next company outing. While on vacation I saw a bracelet that I thought was made out of bicycle tubes. Turns out it wasn't, but it sparked an idea. I should try making a bracelet on my Cricut using discarded bicycle tubes!

After heating, then flattening a few tubes under several books for about two weeks, I made what is now the precursor to the Daisy Bicycle Tube Bracelet. It worked on the first try!

Although the first bracelet was an instant success, that would be one of the few times that making a bicycle tube bracelet on my Cricut would be that easy. Because tubes have a natural curve to them, and used tubes come in a variety of thicknesses, I would spend the next year trying to figure out how to make a bicycle tube bracelets without jamming or ripping them in my Cricut.

Fortunately, I managed to get just enough created to attend the art markets in Boston. Thanks to the kindness of many makers, engineers and crafts people, I was able to create a process that is now reliable, scalable and much more efficient.

During that first season at the Boston area art markets, I must have spoke to a few thousand people. I learned that there was a lot of interest in what I was doing. People loved the idea of bicycle tube jewerly and were willing to give them a try. I also learned that there was some things that I needed to fix.

The three most critical things I learned from potential buyers was that I needed a variety of bracelet sizes, the clasps needed to be strong enough to withstand pulling and bracelets needed to be adjustable to accommodate a variety of wrist sizes, since so many were purchased as gifts.

Fortunately, it all eventually came together.

In 2025, we began working with a manufacturer to develop Verdasil™- our signature silicone. Verdasil was created to our exact specifications in order to produce a high performance material that was hypoallergenic, comfortable and had minimal environmental impact.

As of January 2026, KADEN & KAI sells only Verdasil on kadenandkai.com. You can still get pieces created from upcycled bicycle tubes on our Etsy store.

Kaden & Kai are the two middle names of my sons. I liked the idea of using a name that sounded like a fashion brand, but had some personal meaning.

Kaden stands for companion or friend and Kai means sea. It was a great fit for the vibe I wanted to create for the shop (and it didn't hurt that the domain name was available! ;)